m1530 gaming framerate problem

I own a dell m1530 and I've recently had a framerate problem while playing games where the frame rate is just plain unstable. (I noticed it about a month ago, wasn't like this when I first got the computer)

I've tried updating BIOS, getting most recent video drivers/reverting back to old, restoring system to factory state, lowering ingame settings to minimum etc.

It happens with every single game I play - I'll be at 100 fps for a few seconds then ill drop to 50 fps for a few seconds and back to 100 and so on. Same with games I run at lower framerates - I'll be at 40 fps then 20 then 40 etc.

I've looked everywhere, no answer to be found. Any help appreciated.

 

That could also be simply to the game your playing...

For example: when your inside on crysis you'd get higher FPS as its less load on your GPU but when your outside the FPS would drop as its more work for the GPU to render trees, plants, sky, the sun...etc than rendering a room

Just a thought.

 

I know what you mean, but I dont think that is the case. I can be running around playing etc. and ill just stop moving with nothing going on in game and this is what my framerate will do. 40...... 35 30 25 20........ 25 30 35 40....... 35 30 25 20........ 25 30 35 40

etc

 

I had this very same problem and tried everything i could to solve the problem. Finally my wife came over and switched the power setting from Dell Recommended to High Performance. Problem solved and I will never live it down.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I have already tried that, and just tried it again to make sure. Still no luck.

 

BTW switching modes from dell recomended to high prefomance counts only if using battey. When on AC its automatically high perfomance.

 

hey im having the EXACT same problems, i tried everything. reformatted twice in the last week, and updated all drivers, back and forth, from old to new. tweaked the nvidia settings, off , on, and power settings...it seems we're not the only ones having this problem.
i checked the performance log, on event viewer, and i got critical errors, warnings, and errors all over the log. seriously im disapointed because i just went to gateways website and their P series FX is the same price as my m1530 with the 8600mGT 4 gigs of ram, 2.5ghz duo core, and they have a 9800m GT installed in theirs. it was a waste of money for my gaming laptop.

 

well this seems rather usual to me, your computer is overheating, and its downclocking itself to protect your GPU, you can monitor your system temperatures with this:
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

If your GPU i going over 88-90C then you should call dell, and they should agree to send in some replacement pieces ( motherboard, heatsink-fan)

Best of luck to all of you facing the same problem

 

does your xps play games well? steam games?

 

steam games i.e. HL2-engine runs easily on high on nvidia 8400/8600... it runs on IGP too...

GTA IV on the other hand...nope

 

GTA IV does.
Not spectacularily mind you, but it's certainly playable at decent fps.

 

maybe decently for the 8600... i tried it on my 8400..... it's decent fps too (20fps i think), but missing textures because of the low memory...

frankly, for GTA IV, you need a lot of video memory (> 512mb)

 

To the OP: It sounds like you have Vsync on... try turning it off in the game graphics options.

 

I would say that is definitely your processor throttling. The EXACT same thing happens with me. Getting my SXPS 16s mobo replaced tomorrow. Let's see if it makes a difference. And ya, do post you HWMonitor temps, so we can help you better.